Feb 9 Friendly - N Ireland v Canada POST-match [R]

[Vancouver Fan]

This match was positive for one reason and that is that we finally confirmed what many of us have felt and hoped for.Mike Klukowski will soon emerge as a solid starter for Canada.The man has soccer sense and is cool on the ball.He needs more caps!

There was not much in the way of team play for many reasons that have already been pointed out.

There will be a big test for Yallop against Portugal.He will be judged on the lineup he puts out.If he includes Stalteri and De Guzman in midfield and starts Klukowski in the back it will go a long way in getting a positive result and I for one will find more confidence in his coaching ability.

[Andrew W]

Sorry, just posting to get to 667 posts and away fromt he dreaded 666 (although I always did like the Iron Maiden album [xx(])

[Reza]

Well, our road record seems to be much better :-)....Might as well play all qualifiers away :-)

I am not sure why people are complaining now. It's not like Canada was Holland before and now, they showed a total departure from past plays. And at least, they won the game which is something the actual A team failed to do so many times.

To go to Europe with a young team that is out of shape and to not play even the most instrumental players (Hume, Atiba) for most or all of the game, to play in terrible conditions and to come back with a 1-0 win is not bad. Sure, the displays wasn't stellar, but the result was and at the end, NI couldn't beat a 10 man Canadian team.

Off course, much work is needed, but I didn't find the match too disheartening. It's hard to expect a bunch of guys who have hardly ever played together to do much better.

[Cheeta]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew W

Sorry, just posting to get to 667 posts and away fromt he dreaded 666 (although I always did like the Iron Maiden album [xx(])

667

Neighbour of the Beast.

[FC Beast]

quote:Originally posted by Alex

Agreed, but I think you are missing something crucial. WE WERE DOWN TO 10 MEN, playing in their park and we didnt even field our best. So what really did you expect?

I expect a team effort. Discipline is a must, you can get sent off

in a friendly for heavens sake. We had a player who won't be named,

getting suspended during wcq for throwing a tantrum as well as a

water bottle. We didn't field our best? You mean the world beaters

that failed to advance to the Concacaf final round, those world beaters? I expect our manager to go with a good goalkeeper not a

A league keeper. Early prediction, if we play the same against Portugal , they will win 5-0, at least.

[FC Beast]

quote:Originally posted by Alex

check out this article from the CSA, says Atiba was sick and that our victory was inspiring: Canada's Men's National Team turned overcame playing a man down for nearly 70 minutes and terrible playing conditions as they battled to a memorable 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in an international friendly at Windsor Park in Belfast on Wednesday.

Playing in what felt like gale force winds at times and in a continuous swirlist mist, Canada found themselves down to 10 men after only 20 minutes when Gabriel Gervais was sent off for his second bookable offence when he was forced to foul in order to avoid a potential breakaway.

Minutes later, Jim Brennan delivered an inch perfect cross off a free kick to Olivier Occean who rose majestically and powered an unstoppable header past Northern Ireland goalkeeper Maik Tyalor.

Canadian head coach Frank Yallop was thrilled with the performance and determination of his players. ''Considering the circumstances this is a tremendous result for us,'' said Yallop. ''It is not easy to come to some of these countries and get a result but to do so in these conditions and playing a man down for as long as we did and to defend with the discipline and organization that we showed was fantastic.''

Yallop started Montreal Impact goalkeeper Greg Sutton and the A-League MVP was outstanding, turning in a composed and clean performance. The Northern Irish hit the woodwork in the first half and again in the dying seconds but Sutton snuffed out several crosses and his distribution in a ferocious wind was impressive.

Follwing Gervais' dismissal, Yallop dropped Patrice Bernier to right back, alongside Kevin McKenna who captained the side and Marco Reda who made his senior debut when he replaced Atiba Hutchinson who was unable to play due to illness. Josh Simpson lined up at left back.

Dwayne de Rosario started up front alongside Occean but dropped in a central midfield role along side Daniel Imhof and Adrian Serioux. The three, along with Brennan, were heroic in their defending, continuously breaking up Northern Irish attacks and running themselves into the ground to track back and pressurize.

When McKenna went down early in the second half with a quad pull, Mike Klukowski stepped into the breach at centre half and quickly asserted himself with some excellent clearances. Iain Hume and Jaime Peters came on for thre tiring Brennan and Serioux in the last 10 minutes to help see out the game and share the spoils of a thoroughly impressive and inspiring victory.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=2037

The CSA must believe in fairy tales to write that BS.[V]

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by FC Beast

Early prediction, if we play the same against Portugal , they will win 5-0, at least.

There! Its been said.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by FC Beast

Discipline is a must, you can get sent off

in a friendly for heavens sake.

You're just as blind as the ref, who conveniently missed Keith Gillespie's dual attempts at hacking Josh Simpson's legs off after Josh went by him like a training pylon.

quote:I expect our manager to go with a good goalkeeper not a

A league keeper.

This is where your idiocy really shines. It's such an asinine comment, I'm not even going to try to form a response to it, other than asking the mods why "FC Beast" was allowed to create yet another account despite having all of his other accounts deleted/suspended. I thought he was only allowed to post as "savagebeast".

[bettermirror]

were the irish fans really chanting "USA! USA!"????

you guys didn't say anything i wouldn't say.

well done boys. a wins a wins a win. 1-0 to the good!

atrocious passing though, i will say. (could list lots of excuses!)

[Vancouver Fan]

quote:Originally posted by bettermirror

were the irish fans really chanting "USA! USA!"????

you guys didn't say anything i wouldn't say.

well done boys. a wins a wins a win. 1-0 to the good!

atrocious passing though, i will say. (could list lots of excuses!)

Were those chants meant to intimidate?How disappointing.

[Free kick]

Just finished watching the game on tape. I read the first page of threads before viewing the match and I was surprised by the negative responses until I finished watching the entire game. At which point, I am now just as puzzled by some of the positive responses to our performance.

On the plus side, a win is a win and two or three players showed us something. Plus it was accomplished while playing with ten men. I would have to concure with the favourable reviews of Kluka and Sutton. Equally you have to credit the goal scorer, Occean. But beyond that, no one stood out. Unless you want to nitpick at one particular play here and there by a certain individual. Fact remains, this was a very boring game and we failed to sustain any possesion in MF or elsewhere and the ball distribution was very poor. WE converted on our only goal scoring chance and how many future games can we expect to win that way. Especially against a more credible opponent. Even if you are playig with ten men, you need to fair better in the ball possesion area. Preparation cannot possibly account for that huge of a discrepancy in this area of the game. As far as the first string players that were missing, remember too that there were many first stringers who did play. That has to be a concern depthwise.

If this were an away game against Mexico in WCQ, I would said great! we got an early goal and held them off successfully for the rest of the game. Superb effort and well played away game. The problem is that this was a friendly ( played four years away from WCQ) against a minnow of international soccer with some futility records in goal scoring.

Furthermore, one of the purposes of these games, in addition to preparation and evaluation, is to showcase the team and players in the hope of increasing the following and support at home. This kind of game does nothing to accomplish that. In fact it hurts. People sitting on the fence will say: " You barely manage to hold off his kind of side so how can you expect to present any kind of challenge against any competitive side". I wish it would have been played with fun and confidence. More importantly to impress the fans/coaches and show that we are headed in the right direction. Rather the game resemble Canada in the Lennarduzzi era. The only difference being that we were playing Northern Ireland in a freindly instead of Mex or the US in WCQ. Thats the problem.

Wow!!! how did I manage to write four paragraphs on this game. I was thinking long and hard what could be written since it was so uneventfull ( aside from the goal) from a Canadian standpoint.

[imported_n/a1394647443]

Canada rides Occean waves

Defeat Irish in soccer friendly

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2005/02/09/925588-cp.html

Canada's Oliver Occean celebrates after scoring the opening goal against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wednesday in a friendly international soccer match. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

BELFAST (CP) - Olivier Occean scored against the run of play and Canada, despite having a defender sent off midway through the first half, held on to defeat Northern Ireland 1-0 in a scrappy soccer friendly Wednesday.

Occean put Canada ahead in the 32nd minute, heading in a well-flighted Jim Brennan free kick. It was his first goal for Canada, coming in his eighth international appearance. "It was a long night," Canadian coach Frank Yallop said with a laugh.

"But it was a terrific team performance if you think about it. It was really really fantastic for the boys to come out with something out of that game, because they tried really hard. Every single one of them."

Canada is ranked 90th in the world, while Northern Ireland is No. 109.

The home side pressed the action throughout but failed to manufacture many real chances on a windy, rainy night at Windsor Park. When it did, goalkeeper Greg Sutton was up to the task.

Outside of the Occean goal, Northern Ireland goalkeeper Maik Taylor was spectator throughout the first half. The Birmingham City 'keeper gave way to Manchester United's Roy Carroll to open the second half as manager Lawrie Sanchez made changes.

While Carroll also had little to do, he required treatment after intercepting a ball and getting a sly Occean boot to the face.

Canada took captain and defender Kevin McKenna off seconds into the second half nursing a thigh strain. With defensive partner Gabe Gervais already missing because of two yellows, Yallop was forced to send on Mike Klukowski and jerry-rig his defence with Klukowoski and Marco Reda playing between Josh Simpson and Patrick Bernier.

Reda started in place of Atiba Hutchinson, who fell ill pior to the game.

Yallop thought the two Gervais cautions were harsh in a friendly. "I think (the referee) could have warned him on the first one," he said.

Northern Ireland came at Canada in waves and it looked as if the home side was on a power play most of the second half. Canada had a chance to make it 2-0 late in the game when Dwayne DeRosario hit the crossbar after a solo rush while Northern Ireland's Steve Jones hit the post in extra time.

"We lacked quality in our crosses and invention around the box," Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez said. "It was a good kick up the backside - although to be honest, neither goalkeeper had much to do."

The home side was unlucky not to get a penalty when Daniel Imhof shouldered David Healy to the ground in the penalty box.

Canada, playing into a fierce wind in the first half, had looked on the ropes just prior to the Occean goal.

Gervais, earning just his fourth cap for Canada, was sent off in the 22nd minute for a second yellow card when he obstructed Healy. Minutes earlier the Montreal Impact defender had been cautioned for taking down Keith Gillespie outside the penalty box.

Gervais becomes the fourth player sent off in Canada's last eight matches, following Occean, Paul Stalteri and Iain Hume.

Northern Ireland almost scored on the kick that followed Gervais' first caution. The ball curled around the Canadian wall but bounced off a leg wide of the post.

The Gervais ejection seemed to further unnerve Canada, which found itself under siege.

A defensive error almost led to another goal later in the half when Canada failed to clear the ball. Minutes later, a windswept George McCartney cross from long range bounced off the goalpost into the arms of a grateful Sutton.

But Canada went ahead unexpectedly, thanks to the Brennan-Occean connection.

Late in the half, Healy headed wide after a Canadian giveaway. Sutton, posting his second shutout in as many national team appearances, stopped Healy's powerful shot on a sharp angle in the dying seconds of the half.

The home side kept up the pressure in the second half, with a Gillespie shot going high. Patrice Bernier almost scored an own goal on a miskick but the six-foot-six Sutton made the save.

Yallop elected to leave such established players as Stalteri, Julian de Guzman and Tomasz Radzinski at their European clubs so he can check out younger talent.

Canada's next match is a friendly in Portugal on March 26.

Northern Ireland used Wednesday's Canada game as a tuneup for World Cup qualifiers against England and Poland.

Northern Ireland is currently fourth in the six-country group with an 0-1-3 record after ties with Austria, Azerbaijan and Wales and a loss to Poland.

Northern Ireland has failed to win to win at home since September 2001, when it beat Iceland 3-0.

Notes: The win raised Yallop's record as Canadian manager to 5-4-2 ... The loss was only Sanchez's third in 12 matches as Northern Ireland boss ... Reda won his first cap for Canada. ... McKenna captained Canada for the second game in a row. ... Canada tied Northern Ireland 1-1 in Belfast in 1999, the last time the two teams met.

[beachesl]

Well, I think we have some positives here.

Sutton was fantastic (and I'm a Lars fan), cool, decisive, surefooted, sure-handed and his positioning was great. I'm surprised there are not more comments on this. Frank is going to have a hard time putting Lars in in Portugal.

Klukowski was an absolute rock, and I agree with the comment that he gave strength to the rest of the defence. McKenna also played well in central defence before going off.

All played with spirit, even if at times some of them played clumsily.

[BearcatSA]

I found this match too difficult to assess, since we had to play with 10 men for 75 minutes. Klukowski looked good, really nice goal off a set piece, and that's about it. Oh, and Sutton has potential. DeRosario frustrates the hell out of me. Gian-Luca's assessment that this was an inexperienced side in a tough situation is a worthy judgment, so I think eeking out a win is a confidence booster, especially considering how hard the team worked for it. (Cliche time, Don Cherry style) A lot of heart was on display, and I'll take that any time.

NI pumped a lot of crosses into the box and I think that was to our defensive advantage, though Reda's header in the second half on our own goal obviously displayed the fine training ground instruction of Assistant Coach Mark Watson! Sorry, Mark, I'll take that one back.

First touch control is so crucial and I still found that wanting in several of our players. A greasy pitch really compounded that. In his second touch of the match, Simpson let the ball pop away from him too far, inviting a big time hack from Gillespie, and a potential major injury. Serioux, Occean, and Imhoff were also guilty of losing possession after poor first touches. Some of the errant ground passes could be blamed on the lack of team cohesiveness and weather conditions so I'll leave that issue for the moment.

Glad to have seen the game, regardless. Thanks, Sportsnet and Voyageurs.

[elricko]

Canada were so diabolicaly bad, it was so naffin embarrassing to watch them--thank gawd we didn't make the next round of the WVQ. N.I. should have had a most blatant penalty, Carroll had stud-marks across his face-(looked deliberate to me), and those two clowns commentating ,I don't know why they didn't discuss the NHL lockout--'cos they yakked about everything else--except what happens on the pitch!!! At least the Irish crowd showed they supported a good North American team--the United States. Let me be the first to predict with all certainty--"We will not qualify for the 2010 World Cup"--not a chance!

[strobe_z]

Thanks for stopping by elricko... glad you had something constructive to add to the discussion...

[beachesl]

quote:Originally posted by elricko

Canada were so diabolicaly bad, it was so naffin embarrassing to watch them--thank gawd we didn't make the next round of the WVQ. N.I. should have had a most blatant penalty, Carroll had stud-marks across his face-(looked deliberate to me), and those two clowns commentating ,I don't know why they didn't discuss the NHL lockout--'cos they yakked about everything else--except what happens on the pitch!!! At least the Irish crowd showed they supported a good North American team--the United States. Let me be the first to predict with all certainty--"We will not qualify for the 2010 World Cup"--not a chance!

El Ricko, why dont' you just stick to watching Premier League matches. At least you didn't get any commercials.

We put on an offseason development team, unfairly down for 7o plus minutes and won. Don't worry, be happy!

[The Ref]

quote:Originally posted by Joe MacCarthy

Ref Tell me, why do you whine like a girl? Sorry girls. We get a win you whine, we lose you whine. What no mention of the CSA?

Now tell me (as a guy who was in national broadcast TV for ten years) what exactly is wrong with Gerry? I'd like to know. Is it that he doesn't have a British accent? That he doesn't scream goooooooooooooooal? That he's unprepared? That he doesn't know the players. Oh, it must be his lack of tactical knowledge. News flash, that's Craig's job.

Next time we play and you'll enjoy this, turn off the sound and call the game off your TV screen for the full half. I'll bet you couldn't last 2 minutes. I know, I've tried.

Wow! I must have touched a sensitive nerve. And by the way, I always last more than 2 minutes. tsk tsk

[Grizzly]

Watched the game with 8 Voyageurs (including myself) in Ottawa. The bar manager had to piss off two Argentines watching their game against Germany which had already started earlier when he switched the channel. He actually didn't charge them for their meal but they were still pissed off which one had to enjoy. One can sympathise with wanting to see your team but you shouldn't expect a Canadian bar to show a foreign game instead of a Canadian team although this happens to often with soccer. I never expected German bars to show me Canadian games instead of German ones in any sport even hockey. Two other guys than came in trying to convince us to watch "good soccer" and met with a similar response although in light of the level of play in this match I almost have to say they were right in that we didn't see good soccer. The few non-soccer fans in the bar did seem interested in the game though.

One can look at this games with two attitudes. One is to consider it as an away win down a man for most of the game in poor conditions and missing several key and veteran players. The other is to look at how we played and what it bodes for us when playing decent teams in non-friendly matches. The game I saw was one of the poorest performances I have seen from a Canadian side and I will not let a result which was largely due to a combination of luck and an inept opponent excuse the poor level of play. To be fair we had the advantage in the first 10 minutes of play and in the next ten before the sending off were slightly at a disadvantage. However, while a sending off is a negative thing, it doesn't mean the team should completely collapse. After the red card we didn't seem able to achieve more than two consecutive passes without losing the ball until Hume came on at the end, not even in the backfield. We never managed to kill any time at all with possession and were constantly under attack, half of the time giving the ball to NI in a scoring position. It was almost as if we were daring them to score not believing that they had the ability no matter how easy the chance. I am less concerned with claiming a friendly away victory against a mediocre opponent than what will happen if we play like this against a quality team like Costa Rica or Mexico in qualifying with corrupt CONCACAF refereeing.

My rankings:

Yallop 3: Despite my criticisms of his WCQ campaign I was pretty open minded about giving him a chance to change my opinion. I was pretty happy with the lineup called given that he wanted to try a few younger players out and give him credit for bringing Brennan back but his coaching performance today was terrible. After the red card NI completely dominated us and no tactical or personnel changes were made to rectify the situation. By this I mean he did change the positions a bit but it didn't work and yet he never felt compelled to make any other changes or substitutions (just like in WCQ when he consistently played players in positions and formations in which they were not succeeding). I thought he would settle the team down during the break and come up with an effective tactic to deal with the situation but if anything they were worse at the start of the second. Things only settled down a bit when Klukowski came in in a substitution Yallop was forced to make by injury. When would Klukowski have come on if McKenna had not been injured, the last 10 minutes? Would the poorly performing McKenna been the one substituted for by Kluko or any other sub? Yallop has not shown much ability to adapt or modify his tactics during a game or even during a series of games. He seems unable or unwilling to pick out the underperforming players and replace them particularly if they are one of his favourites. When you are down to 10 men the players run a lot more and thus fresh legs are needed earlier than usual particularly if the opponent has substituted liberally. He had the experienced Hume on the bench but only put him on in minute 87 followed by Peters at 88. Hume should have been on for at least 25 minutes if not shortly after the goal as I think he offers more defensively than several on the field and can hold on to the ball and pass effectively as we saw when he did come in. Nor was Brennan the player I would have thought as 1st choice to be replaced by Hume. Peters may be young but if Yallop can put him in in a WCQ game surely he can give him 10 minutes in a friendly when fresh legs are needed and his speed could make NI more cautious. As far as his comments that we defended well what game was he watching? Our defence was disorganized and chaotic with constant giveaways. Any of our WCQ opponents in the last round would probably have put 2 or 3 in with the chances we gave them. If this is his idea of sound defence count me out. I have seen many teams play a man down and defend far more effectively. I have seen cup games where vastly outclassed teams several divisions below their opponent have managed to defend well with far worse players than we had tonight and still give their opponents problems. Yallop is going to have to improve vastly to win me back to his side.

Sutton 8- Very competent play. First time I have seen him. He looks a bit awkward in his movements possibly due to his size but plays angles well and stops everything he should stop. Didn't have to make any spectacular saves and am not sure if he is that type of keeper but seems solid and confident. Not Craig Forrest but at least an upgrade from Onstad in my opinion (fire away El Hombre ).

McKenna 4- Very poor game. Poor positioning, slow, constantly gave the ball away, unable to control ball when in possession. I personally think McKenna is a sub/depth player as a forward who can be used at the back in an emergency. Has a bit of knack for goal but I think Occean has a lot more to offer as a target striker. I think his lack of speed and poor technical abilities really don't make him a strong candidate for someone to be a starter in a future WCQ team. Could be a good supersub for the last twenty minutes. Probably a good leader and gives 100% but I don't think skilled enough to be our regular captain.

Reda 6- Was expecting a bit more from him. Made a number of poor plays but also made a few good ones. Considering he is not in season, he still seems promising as a future key player as he looks to have some ability to improve on today's performance.

Gervais 4- Didn't see enough to make a fair judgement but getting ejected doesn't help your case even if I thought it was a harsh call.

Simpson 4- Thought he looked out of his league today. Seems to have lots of ability and potential but just isn't at the level yet to contribute as a starter for our A team. Every time he ran into tight coverage he would just kick the ball straight ahead where it would hit the legs of his marker and usually bounce to another opposing player. His passing was poor as was his marking. One of the other Voyageurs today stated he reminded him of an early Stalteri with his skill but constant giving the ball away. Lots of potential but needs some more professional experience.

Klukowski 8- The best field player for us today despite the limited time. The defence immediately settled a bit once he replaced McKenna. One poor clearance shortly after coming on but otherwise very solid. Good tactical sense, some pace, can pass and can win balls. Partnered with Nsaliwa could make a very solid central defence.

Brennan 7- Looked good when we were at full strength. Ability to carry the ball without giving it away and good crosser. Could have helped a bit more with the defending and seemed to disappear at times.

Serioux 6- Like Simpson seems to have a lot of potential but not quite there yet. Has some pace and a few good moves and of course the famous throw ins. Also seemed to disappear at times.

Imhof 6- I agree that Imhof is underrated but I also don't think he is a starter with our best 11 available. He is competent defensively but contributes nothing offensively. The type of player who will rarely get rated a below 5 in a game but also rarely above 7. I think with the right selection and formation Imhof is at best a sub/depth player. Made a few gaffs today but was generally solid but provided no forward momentum thus not helping us retain possession for any length of time.

Bernier 7- Thought he was fairly solid other than the time when he took the best shot on Sutton of the game. I see him as a sometimes starter sometimes sub depending on the lineup called.

DeRosario 3- Very poor performance doing a job he was not suited for although he certainly tried his best. Should have been substituted when we went down a man. He is purely a striker and lacks the skills to defend and fight for balls. He is too one dimensional as a player. He can do magic with a bit of room near the goal but doesn't seem able to work the short passing plays one needs from a midfielder, gives the ball away too much and panics too much under pressure kicking the ball away blindly. Could be an excellent supersub striker for us when we need a goal with 20 minutes to play. I think Hume is a better choice as our starting skilled striker.

Occean 7- Beautiful goal. Another pure striker lacking in defending abilities, needs good service to be effective. Seems promising as our starting target striker. He may not be a technical player but he can take a pass well (a skill sorely lacking today) and can control the ball better than he is given credit for. Just not suited for playing a man down. Probably would have had a more impressive game if we had been full strength and attacking the box with crosses.

Hume and Peters - Not on long enough to rank but both were impressive in their "few minutes of fame". Hume made an immediate impact on the field as we finally had someone who could control the ball and pass it effectively allowing us to get out of our own end and retain possession. Hume seemed able to hold on to the ball himself longer than most of our players were able to retain possession with several teammates around them. Peters impressed me as well with his speed and effort to get involved in the play. Had he and Hume been on early they could have applied a lot more pressure to the NI defence thus taking some off our defence.

NI - Didn't impress me much. I was surprised how many off their players play in the top two tiers in England but seeing them play today I would have to assume a lot of them are subs and reserve squad members. Even Belize might have put in a couple of goals if we had given them as many chances as we gave NI today, Belize certainly looked a lot more dangerous on the few chances they had. Were certainly willing to tackle hard and play rough but were also willing to dive shamelessly which is probably why the ref did not call the penalty on Imhof (a correct decision in my opinion). We were also guilty of some rough play but did not dive. We should have done better against this team even with 10 men as far as being able to control possession and drive upfield. Almost all their chances came from a distance mostly crosses. Almost never penetrated the box on a passing play.

Ref 3- Incompetent reffing, not biased but definitely affected by the home crowd. Terrible not to award any cards on the early rough tackles by NI and then send off a player on such borderline offences. I thought the second yellow was definitely a foul but not bookable. It wasn't a particularly hard foul nor did the fouled player have a clear chance on goal although he was obstructed. Giving three minutes extra time was overly generous but then allowing play for in excess of five minutes was terrible. NI might have hit a post in the last minute but the game should have ended several minutes previously.

[matthew]

I am happy we won, but I honestly don't see any point in worrying about friendly results five years before the World Cup. Look at some of the guys from the 99 team, by 04 they weren't even playing anymore.

While I did think we were poor - even with bad conditions and 10 men - we did play with an awful lot of heart. I was really proud of the effort. Even while DeRosario was driving me crazy with little back-heel flicks in our own end, I was amazed at how much ground he covered. He worked his tail off and I was happy to see him wear the armband.

I also think Simpson was a little better than he's being rated here. I think he might be the answer at left back. Definitely for the future (I still like Jazic more than some).

Given what we learned today, what do we think of the current best 11:

........................................Hirschfeld/Sutton

..Hutch.............DeVos?/McKenna....Klukowski.....Simpson/Jazic

............................................Imhof/Grande

..........Stalteri.......................DeGuzman....................Brennan

................................Occean.................DeRo/Hume

Still some questions and if DeVos is done, then Klukowski's good half doesn't begin to answer the questions in the middle (though I think Gervais, McKenna, Reda and Klukowski have all shown they can do the job at times. I think there's a combination there somewhere that can do the job). But overall I think the blue print for team for the next few years is fairly clear.

Besides Tam is there anyone that's really screaming to get a look in the near future?

cheers,

matthew

[DJT]

Originally posted by gwallace76 - 02/09/2005 : 23:47:42</u>

Dateline, Belfast

[by Ben Knight]

Canada's first full international soccer match of 2005 wasn't what they wanted - except they won.

World Cup 2006 is still a year and a half away.

Tickets for soccer's greatest celebration have only just gone on sale. Travel agents are bracing for an avalanche of fans planning to invade Germany for 64 hot-ticket footy matches the summer after next. Those fans don't even know what teams they'll be seeing when they get there. Other than the hosts, Germany, no nation has yet qualified for the big dance.

Cut to Belfast, Northern Ireland. On a windy, rainy night, Canada took their very first step on the long road to qualifying -- for World Cup 2010.

Okay. Real, honest qualifying games that count won't be with us for another four years. But Canada can't wait that long. The team of the past few years is -- or soon will be -- gone. Head coach Frank Yallop has a small number of solid players in their prime (Paul Stalteri, Tomasz Radzinski, Dwayne de Rosario), and a good crop of promising youngsters who need plenty of patience, care and seasonsing.

In other words, the road to South Africa starts right now.

The opponent was Northern Ireland. And whatever admiring things you want to say about the culture and tradition of the Irish, the top half of the Emerald Isle is not exactly scaring anybody in the soccer world these days. Lawrie Sanchez's green gang entered the game 109th in the FIFA global rankings -- tied with Cyprus and Uganda. Canada -- by comparison -- is a relatively lofty 90th.

Yallop was on the radio in the morning, saying he doesn't want to see his young troops playing in a defensive shell. "If you play like that, sooner or later the other team opens you up and scores," he said. "I want us to play the game."

Hallelujah! That was this reporter's most major gripe (one of many, actually) with former Canadian coach Holger Osieck. He showed time and again that he didn't trust his team to play with the lead -- or at any other time. Canada was crying out for a coach who wasn't afraid to lose, and would be willing to send his troops forward to do their level, honest best.

And that's certainly how it began in Belfast. For 20 minutes, play was pretty even, even though there were no good scoring chances at either end.

But then -- as has happened far too often to Canada in recent outings -- the referee intervened.

Montreal Impact defender Gabriel Gervais had just taken a yellow card for a hard challenge at the top of the Canadian box. Mere moments later, just 22 minutes in, he got another -- and was gone. Really, there wasn't much in it. Yeah, go got an elbow up on an Irishman who had just played the ball past him. But he was more bracing for the collision than trying to take anyone's head off.

Sportsnet analyst Craig Forrest was instantly critical of the call, saying a sending off really didn't serve the needs of either side in what was, essentially, a developmental game. Ah, but it could be good practice for the lads, given that they're ultimately going to have to qualify through a gauntlet of card-happy CONCACAF refs. No one ever wants to play a man short, but Canada might as well get as much practice as they can. It's a skill -- alas -- they are going to need.

It was all Northern Ireland after that.

... Except for one Jim Brennan free kick that found the head of courageous, inspiring young striker Olivier Occean -- who headed home to give Canada a 1-0 lead.

And that -- amazingly -- turned out to be the game.

Canada had a couple of ghastly defensive moments. The Gervais red card hauled Dwayne de Rosario back to the midfield from his striker slot. It didn't go well. He served up a couple of tantalizing through balls -- but they were backwards, into his own penalty area, where they were gleefully taken up (unsuccessfully, as it turned out) by the Irish strike force.

Canadian goalie Greg Sutton -- Montreal Impact, MVP of the A-League -- went the distance in goal, and went just about completely untested. His goalposts got smacked three times, once just before halftime on a running shot from David Healey that went right between his legs.

The early red card played horrendous havoc with Yallop's plan to give as many of his youngsters an international run-out as possible. Indeed, it wasn't until right at the end that Yallop served up Iain Hume and Jaime Peters from his bench. Hume, leading scorer for England's Tranmere Rovers and odds-on captain of Canada 2010, immediately served up some fancy footwork to freeze the Irish defence, setting de Rosario up for an assault on their crossbar.

So, in a game where Yallop wanted to attack, Canada was forced to play eleven men behind the ball for 65 minutes, and they came away with the win. We learned basically nothing about most of the youngsters, but it was a considerable relief to see Our Lads in Red hang on for the win.

One player I want to single out:

I really like Olivier Occean's confidence. He showed it back in Edmonton, when he scored what should have been the winning goal against Honduras in World Cup qualifying. He was robbed that night by a totally bogus dangerous play call on a shameless Honduran defender who writhed on the turf for five minutes, even though there was no contact on the play.

That's a huge load of potential gun-shyness for a 23-year-old striker to carry. But there was no doubt or hesitation on Occean's part as he rose to head that ball decisively into the Northern Ireland net. Not only was it a solid, professional effort, it signals that Canada is officially dangerous in the air, something that hasn't been true for a very long time.

The next test for Canada is Portugal, away, in March. We'll all take the Belfast win, but let's hope we learn a little more from that one.

Onward!

Ben Knight writes about soccer and lacrosse regularly on Sportsnet.ca.

[Canuck Oranje]

First, I did not see the game.

Second, I will add that the MNT should already be focussed on preparing for 2010. Every friendly and tournament it plays should contribute some learning for the players and the coaching staff toward WCQ 2010. Granted, this game is being played about 4 years before qualifying begins.

More than any other friendly, this friendly should have been used to uncover useful players for the future cause. It would follow then that the key players to be evaluated should have been Hume, Peters, Simpson and Klukowski. Ironically, only Simpson started. Occean, Bernier, and Hutchinson (ill) would fit that category as well but it is unfair to them to be evaluated in the off-season. However, it is good to see Brennan back (which again begs the question, why was he left out for WCQ? - I know the speculated reason but he is a Premiership player).

Another who needs to be evaluated is Nsaliwa, but he was not called and I would assume he will be called for Portugal. I will add my name to the list who would like to see a Klukowski/Nsaliwa pairing. And that is based on their club playing record.

My beefs are:

Why do we continue to want to look at McKenna as a defender when even Hearts seems to have lost interest in that already? Why didn't Klukowski get the start? After all, Clube Brugge would not invest in this player if they didn't think he had potential. We need to be grooming him now.

I would have liked to see Hume playing next to Occean at the beginning. I think this again could be one of our longer term options. This is not meant to be a slight of DeRosario but let's be honest about him. He is not likely to be an option for us in 2010 and maybe even sooner than that.

I am becoming a little confused by the player selections and the intended objectives of this friendly. If it was only to win, I guess we met that one. But I don't think winning should have been the primary objective in this game.

We did uncover Klukowski but more by accident than by design. We didn't get to see Hume paired with Occean. And we didn't give Peters a game in a meaningless friendly.

Like others on this board, I am not convinced that our coach has a strategy for success. Everything seems to be seat-of-the-pants rather than by design.

[marktci]

My quick comments:

- Impossible to judge anything with that squad, that pitch, and a man down.

- I have to agree that Yallop's decision-making was questionable. Unless he decided that he wanted to see how that particular group handled adversity.

- Players who impressed me: Sutton (looked poised), Kluka, Bernier (with the exception of the back pass, looked very effective after getting moved)

- Players who didn't impress: DeRo (out of position, but should be able to clear the ball when necessary), Gervais (looked lost)

- My final observation is that you are not going to see a better set-piece goal anywhere. A perfect cross and an assertive header.

With a full-strength squad, I'm not ready to concede a walkover to Portugal just yet.

[Kurosawa1555362267]

It was a horrible game to watch but we won and that helps a little.

The goal was a great one, Brennan hit the freekick perfectly and Occean was at the right spot at the right time to put it in the net. Sutton was'nt bad in goal and Klukowski was pretty good in the middle. The problem was that our defender were not able to pass the ball to our midfielders. Let's just say I missed DeVos, Stalteri, Hutchison, DeGuzman and Grande. I hope all of them will be in the lineup against Portugal.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Fact remains, this was a very boring game

Sorry, but I don't think that's a fact at all. Maybe it was to you when already knowing the score, watching it on tape-delay, but watching it live was fairly exciting to me.